China plays down "secret" Aussie Olympic training programme

Tuesday, 19 August 2008

BEIJING - China on Monday played down reports that it bought the top-secret training methods of a leading Australian swim coach which helped Liu Zige come from nowhere to win the women's 200m butterfly.

Australian newspapers on Sunday said Ken Wood sold his know-how to Liu's coach Jin Wei for "big money".

It sparked a storm Down Under as Wood also coached top Australian 200m butterflyer Jessicah Schipper, who Liu, unknown before the Beijing Olympics, beat into third place, snatching her world record in the process.

"The so called top-secret programme was just hype and nonsense," Chinese head coach Zhang Yadong told China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

"She (Liu) trained in Australia before, but a lot of other swimmers did too. It was her ability that made her successful."

Liu's coach Jin said she was able to swim such a fast time because "she was really hard on herself", and only began to gain strength last year as her body developed late.

It was only China's third gold since its prime at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, when it won four.

On Sunday, Woods was quoted as saying of China: "They pay good money, big money. I wouldn't help them for nothing".

He denied betraying Schipper, saying he hadn't trained Liu since Australia's Olympic trials in March.

Schipper's parents, Jenny and Wolfgang, said their daughter only found out about Wood's actions after winning gold as part of the 4x100m medley women's relay.

"We didn't know anything about it, I don't think Jess knew anything about it either, so that was a little upsetting," Mrs Schipper told the Nine Network in Australia.

Her husband said he was eager to speak to Wood about the reports, but he still held his daughter's long-term coach in high esteem.

Schipper herself said in Beijing she had nothing against Liu, who is also known as Lucy.

"I trained before with Lucy and I was well aware of that and she was with us for quite a while with the programme that we had going and I've got nothing against that at all," she said Monday.

"It's always a surprise to see people go fast but in 2005 I took three seconds off my 200 fly personal best, so sometimes people just do amazing times. Michael Phelps did seven world records this week."

Woods runs a high performance swim school north of Brisbane offering a programme for elite swimmers on stroke technique, weight training, diet and preparation.

Liu has trained at the school three times over the past three years.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates has said that training overseas swimmers should not be seen as unpatriotic.